Trigger warning: Suicide, addiction

Todays guest is someone who truly embodies resilience. Alexa Towersey is an internationally published celebrity trainer, sports cover model, motivational and mental health speaker with over 16 years experience in the health & fitness industry. Born into a military family, her journey started after she was bullied at school for being too skinny - her nickname was Alexa Annorexa ,and the weights room of the gym became her sanctuary. Not one to be satisfied with being "comfortable", Alexa has taken part in endless physical competitions and achievements until she came across Gym Jones, and fell in love with the "Mind is Primary" philosophy. Now, Alexa uses her knowledge and lived experience to give back as a passionate advocate for mental health. She delivers key note talks and has just featured on the U.S. version of Naked and Afraid. But she has overcome some truly enormous life hurdles that stem from her past and what she has learnt from those will serve as lessons for us all.

In this episode Alexa shares:

• The bullying and rejection she suffered as a child
• How discovering strength training changed her life
• The period where her mum was diagnosed with manic depression
• How her mums behaviour and changed family dynamic caused her to discover alcohol
• How she went down a spiral of binge drinking for 14 years
• The moment she had to intervene when her mum tried to take her own life
• How she lived through her dad dying from alcoholism and liver cirrhosis
• How her social life changed once she stopped drinking
• The shame she developed from her life and how therapy helped her
• How she died 4 times on the table during hip surgery
• How she ended up on the show Naked and afraid

Key Quotes

“I surprised myself, because I had no idea that I had the capacity to feel that low.”

“I grew up in situations I didn’t wanna be in, with people I didn’t want to be like.”

“I woke up in ICU with 3 of my emergency contacts standing around my bed crying.”

More about Alexa

You can find Alexa on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/actionalexa/

Or try her personal training service here: https://www.tractionwithactionalexa.com/

You can get involved with the podcast online

To try out our resilience course: https://www.challengesthatchangeus.com/surviving-2-thriving-course1

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

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